I’ll put this in as a placeholder, but I expect this to just be a string of loss mails, as my 1v1 experience has so far been my T1 ship being blown up by either a group of ships or a single T2 or T3 that I had no chance on. All I’ve learned so far is that I don’t have the skills to win a 1v1 fight...if I’m scrammed, I’m dead.

I had just logged in to do a little mining near the Nest. Rats appeared and I switched to a VNI to help Commander Aeris clear them. Just as we’re wrapping up the rats, we realize a Loki had just popped onto grid with us (this Loki had been camping the PC9 top station undock, but we didn’t see the report that he had left his camp). Tried to align, but got scrammed before I could get away, so I deployed Ogres and floundered. I couldn’t run from him with a 100MN AB, and I couldn’t take repeated 2300 damage volleys, so I didn’t last long. Didn’t learn much of anything from this fight.

(Thankfully Aeris got away.)

Milja Itazura

"Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius."

"Ha ha ha, you fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia,' but only slightly less well-known is this: 'Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!'"

It was late...the lights in Citadel 101 were dimmed, giving the impression of a small city at night even amidst the perpetual darkness of space. I'd just finished two days of scrambling back and forth in a Nereus, a globule of blood in the network of arteries that make up my far-flung business interests. Though war with RvB has been refreshing for the Uni as a whole, my one encounter thus far ended poorly. (Poor decisions beget poor performance in a capsuleer's life.) I'd just inventoried my available frigates and destroyers earlier in the day and realized I hadn't flown many of them. If this war promised content, I suppose I'd better shake the rust off the ships and remove the cobwebs from what little PvP knowledge I'd stored amidst the industry implants.

I chose an Incursus, a ship I hadn't flown on a regular basis since my first month as a capsuleer. Slow, methodical, stubborn...in many ways it represents how I handle most situations. Like most of my ships, the Praetorian had been insured soon after fitting was complete, and it had 14 days left...a tribute to inactivity. Or perhaps it's the price of preparedness; there's a fine line between apathy toward combat and awaiting a threat's possible arrival. I'd used the latter reason to continue to fit and prepare ships, and a drive toward profitability to avoid using the former excuse. I need the ISK to build more ships for myself and the Uni to defend the homestead in all these wars, don't I? I can't go for a spin through LowSec right now...there are asteroids to mine, modules to build...

Firing up the systems in the Praetorian didn't take long; frigates are such simple ships. Ammo in the hold, a drone in the bay, no repairs needed, insurance paid, all the lights are green...time to slide out into the inkiness. Two quick jumps into Ouelletta, swapping ammo loads in the turrets en route to re-familiarize myself with optimal ranges before committing to Null. Just my luck I'm going to be fighting from behind, so I'll need the increased range...even if that only buys me a kilometer.

Roamed some systems in the Ouelletta pipeline without much success. Spotted a Moros on scan in Agoze...always an unusual icon to identify on the screen. Found a Tristan in Vey at a large facility, but he warped away as I warped onto the grid with him. Too bad for him...I'd entered at 50+ kilometers, so he would have had a field day with me. Proud of myself for chasing him to a nearby station, but he jumped away again before I could close the distance effectively. A good warmup to shake the butterflies loose.

Entered Brarel and found a different Tristan on scan. Very few facilities active there, so I had to make some guesses. No luck at the small facility, but I'd seen the last Tristan at the large...what are the odds? Muttering to Bob, I blindly jump into the large facility at 0. Fire is an excellent cleanser of rust, isn't it? Thus, jumping right into the fire makes perfect sense in my sleep-addled haze...

Tristan coming up on scan, on grid...20 kilometers from my ending position, Hobgoblin IIs out. Commit, bull rush, now or never. Maybe I can catch him off guard by flying straight at him. (Odd thought rushes through my head: "Do they have deer freezing in headlights in space?") Turned on the afterburner, vague recollection of at least thinking about overheating it early...might have accomplished that activation, might not. Flash of light as his point lands. Next range check: 13 kilometers, and not changing at a quick glance...so much for surprise. Here come the drones...chunks of cosmetic shields disappearing every few seconds. Range check...13 kilo...wait...12. I'm gaining? There's hope!

Thoughts coming faster, more blurry now in hindsight. Guns on, even at this impossible range...I know I'll forget if I wait until I'm closer. Shields finish melting, activating the ancillary repairer...instinct says to turn it on just before shields disappear, but the cognizant brain wonders why nothing happened for the first full second after activation. Without checking range, hitting the webifier button, expecting Aura to chide me for being too far away (almost gleefully, it seems sometimes)...but the circle continues to fill...it landed! Apply scram...fish on!

A flash on the screen pulls my eyes up as the Tristan's drones fly at me head on in their latest pass. 250 damage every flight, answered by ~160 as my bunched blasters slam T2 ammo into my opponent's shields. Those shields aren't going down very fast...so, shield fit, buffered. Let's see which nut cracks first...eyes drawn back to the tennis match that is my armor level, mind doing computations I never thought possible when this tired, knowing it'll be close when the last paste applies...

Eyes flicking to all parts of my display, checking useful and useless data in an unpredictable dance...still no one else in system, so it's not a trap...just him and me...damage dropping into structure...momentary relief as nanites throw themselves in front of hobgoblin hybrids...eyes catch the repairer's charge status...empty, just used the last paste...what's he at? Structure! Who gets next hit...a calm, morbid reflex unerringly finds the Warpout tab of the overview, selector hovering over the nearby planet, eyes twitch to the center of the display...

Aura's ding...red words...but not the familiar "CAPSULE EJECTED"...

"Kill report available"? Eyes slam downward, seeing white AND red in my indicators...ship's alive...explosions are from the Tristan breaking up...long, slow sigh of relief. (How long had I been holding my breath?) Remember to "gf" in local...grab the T2 modules from the wreck...scoop up his drones...realized I never used my single Hobgoblin II. What else could have gone wrong? Building blocks...what am I at? 1% shield, 15% armor, 11% structure...don't forget to warp out before someone else takes advantage of your mess...

AAR: In retrospect, using Approach instead of Keep at Range or Orbit was probably a bad idea, but I knew if I was going to beat a kiting Tristan I need to close the distance rapidly, and I didn't want to let the computer pick a less-than-ideal vector. Thankfully the Tristan didn't have guns at all, so keeping transverse on him wasn't as big of a deal. I could have orbited anyway just to make it harder for his Hobgoblins to track me. And you'd think that my experience in drone boats would keep me from forgetting that the Incursus has a drone, but I completely forgot about it.

+: Know what my enemy's ship can do, rapid closure, get to my optimal and stay there, remembered the repper.-: Use the drone, orbit or keep at range to dodge drone shots (or kill the drones), overheat more modules than just the AB, consider swapping charges once web applied.

"Ha ha ha, you fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia,' but only slightly less well-known is this: 'Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!'"

Seven months later, while searching for something completely different, I found my first solo PvP victim's blog about the fight. Turns out it was his first fight in a quest to burn through 100 of those Tristans while learning PvP. Alas, it appears he stopped shortly after the new year...

"Ha ha ha, you fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is 'Never get involved in a land war in Asia,' but only slightly less well-known is this: 'Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!'"